The first being that the Union Leader, the largest and only statewide paper in New Hampshire is officially endorsing John McCain. Rumors abounded yesterday about this but McCain's campaign would not verify them because they didn't want to steal the Union Leader's thunder, so to speak.
The title of the piece is "John McCain is the man to lead America"
We don't agree with him on every issue. We disagree with him strongly on campaign finance reform. What is most compelling about McCain, however, is that his record, his character, and his courage show him to be the most trustworthy, competent, and conservative of all those seeking the nomination. Simply put, McCain can be trusted to make informed decisions based on the best interests of his country, come hell or high water.
I have often said that I disagree with a few issues that John McCain stands for, but he is a good man, votes his conscience and stands on his principles even when he understand it will cost him votes.
He also listens to his constituents, as with the Immigration Reform debacle, when the people stood up and called, spoke out, faxed and emailed, he heard them and he adjusted his stance accordingly.
He is still for immigration reform, but understands we want the borders secured first and the laws on the books enforced.
I still think losing him in the Senate and installing him in the White House would take a voice of reason and experience from the Senate at a time when it is needed the most there.
The Union Leader leaves one story to ponder at the end of their piece:
When McCain was shot down and taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese, he was repeatedly beaten. When his captors discovered that his father was a top U.S. admiral, they ordered him released for propaganda purposes. But McCain refused, insisting that longer-held prisoners be released before him. So they beat him some more. He never gave in then, and he won't give in to our enemies now.
I would have to agree there, he isn't likely to leave our country unprotected and he wouldn't back down against our enemies.
Moving along, I see reports that Hillary Clinton was booed at the Heartland Presidential Candidates Forum in Des Moines, which she participated in, via phone, after being asked an immigration reform question and what she would do about it in her first 100 days in office.
You won't see me often standing up for Hillary, I dislike her socialistic ways and believe she would be the worse thing for this country, but, her point about having Congress to deal with, was correct.
A President can only do so much and they cannot force Congress or the Senate to immediately vote on an issue nor dictate how they vote.
Soft booing could be heard from the audience. The man repeated his question about the first 100 days. Clinton replied, "Well you've to get congress to pass the legislation and the president to do as much as possible, which I will do." Louder boos came from the crowd.Voters have got to start acknowledging the reality of how our system works and cannot expect a person to make and keep promises that are impossible to obtain.
Next we see that in the latest Iowa polls, Huckabee (29%) has taken the lead by 5 points from Romney (24%) on the GOP side and Obama (28%) has a lead over Clinton (25%), on the Democratic side, as Clinton's numbers continue to fall.
Touching on Michigan for a second here, we see that the Democratic National Committee members voted yesterday to officially strip Michigan of its delegates to next year's national convention. The first state they stripped their delegates was Florida for holding a primary election earlier than the national party allows.
Its action means none of Michigan's 156 delegates will be allowed to participate when the Democratic party meets in Denver next summer to pick a presidential nominee.
All of the Democratic presidential candidates have already promised the national party that they will not campaign in either Michigan or Florida, even though both states are particularly valuable prizes in the general election.
On a side note, the Republican party will also be stripping its delegates for the same reason, but they are only stripping half of them and the GOP candidates, understanding how important Florida and Michigan is in the primaries are still campaigning there,unlike the Democratic candidates.
All in all, it is shaping up to be a horse race, then again, what Presidential election hasn't been?
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